A RETIRED project engineer suffering from prostate cancer gassed himself in the garage at his home, an inquest heard.

The hearing was told that Colin Piper, 59, rigged up a hosepipe from his car's exhaust to the inside of the vehicle.

His body was discovered by his wife Judith locked inside the double garage at their home at Well Lane, Little Budworth, on February 17.

The inquest was told he had returned home at 3.15pm after a drinking session in Tarporley with a friend and former work colleague.

Mrs Piper arrived home at 4.40pm and presumed her husband was working in the garage, as the door was closed and she could hear the car's engine running.

All doors to the garage had been locked from the inside, and after seeing her husband inside, she smashed a window with a spanner but was still unable to gain entry.

She alerted her nextdoor neighbour, Geoffrey Johnson, who was a friend of Mr Piper. He managed to force open the garage door where he found him slumped in the seat of his sportscar.

When asked if Mr Piper was the sort of person to harm himself, Mr Johnson replied: 'Absolutely not.'

Mr Piper has been a sufferer of prostate cancer since September 2001, but he seemed fine according to his wife. She revealed how her husband was coping well and had regular tests.

Commenting on the test he had in January, which was given the all-clear, Mrs Piper said her husband joked: 'You will have to put up with me for a lot longer.'

A note was found in the kitchen by Mrs Piper, which was penned by her husband, but it appeared to make no sense. Post-mortem results revealed alcohol levels were equivalent to three pints of lager, and there was a high level of saturation of the blood by carbon monoxide.